Speak of the Splendor

*blink*  What?

Yes. Homemade. …as in made at home.

It all started with the 50lb bag of dry milk powder purchased by my mother. When it was brought home and put on the kitchen counter, my Dad laughed (nervously, I think) and said, “Honey…?”

“It’s ok!” Mom said, “We’re going to make yogurt!”

And Dad said, “Honey…?”

It has been a good two months (or so) since we started making our own yogurt, and I can now make it with my eyes closed (figuratively speaking, of course.) All the kinks have been ironed out, and we have yogurt…approximately 12 hours after whenever we want.

The Recipe (to make a 4 cup Mason Jar of yogurt)

-Crushed ice
-1 1/2 T pre-made yogurt (when you’re first starting out, you’ll probably have to buy some yogurt to begin your first batch, but after you can use your homemade yogurt to start future batches.)
-1 Cup dry milk powder (You do not need to use dry milk powder, we do it because it saves a whole lot of money. If you are to use regular milk, substitute the milk for the milk powder. I would probably eliminate the ice, so as to not water down the milk, and instead whisk a small amount of milk with the yogurt.)
-Water to fill Mason Jar
-WIDE mouth Mason Jar

1) Fill your jar about 1/4 of the way full with crushed ice.

2) Measure in the yogurt and dry milk powder.

3) Cover with water, leaving 2-3 inches of space between the top of the water and the top of the jar.

4) Shake until well combined.

until…

5) Fill with water to the top of the jar.

6) Shake to combine.
7) Put jar in heater, set on low. (The first time you make your yogurt, you’ll probably have to mess around with setting up your heater. What we did was set the yogurt on top of the heating pad and gathered up the heating pad around the jar, securing with rubber bands. Once you set it up the first time, the heating pad will hold its shape even when the jar is not in it, so all you’ll have to do in the future is set the jar directly into the opening.)

Cook for about 12 hours, or till the yogurt reaches your desired consistency.

Notes:

-When buying a heating pad, make sure that there is NO ‘Auto-Turnoff after ___ Hours’ feature! It does nothing for the good start of a day when you wake up to find that your yogurt only ‘cooked’ for five hours!
-If using dry milk, it is essential to include crushed ice in the jar when shaking, or else you will end up with something resembling a …wrong… version of cottage cheese.
-It is NOT a good idea to use a small mouth Mason Jar (…even if it’s midnight, you’ve been looking for hours for you Wide-Mouthed jar and, by gosh, you want some yogurt for breakfast–is it too much to ask to keep things where they belong? and why do they even MAKE small-mouthed mason jars?!)

Any questions, ask away.

I just read about these food embossers made by Gourmet Impressions over at two curlytops, and they are quite the sweet little unneccessary.

Today was a very good day, but what I want to write about the most is the food. A unexpected food find. Marvelous.

While we were walking from Diamondback’s stadium (a part of our good day) to our vehicle, Mom and I noticed Karim’s Cobbler Shop and Deli. Rather, we noticed the large sign in the window proclaiming ‘Peach Cobbler.’ Coincidentally Mom and I had been talking about craving cobbler earlier today.

So, we told the boys to wait for us, went into Karim’s, and bought a large serving of Peach Cobbler. Mom and I took the two spoons, walked outside, sat down, and proceeded to eat, and dissect, (like the good foodies we are) the cobbler.

It was very good.

The crust (crucial to the overall quality of the cobbler) was not too sweet, held up among all the juice, and provided enough ‘crunch’ to the peach’s ’smooth.’ The sauce was heavy on the nutmeg, we guessed some lemon, but no cinnamon. The peaches and sauce had been cooked down a good amount of time, resulting in a thick, flavorful juice. The ratio of sauce to crust to peach was perfect. Heaviest on the sauce, medium on the crust, and lightest on the peach. Cost us $4.50. To put things in perspective, I could buy one Ice Cream ‘Novelty’ (Dibs, etc.) at the ballpark for the same price.

The camera was across the street with Dad, and the cobbler was gone before we got to him, but here is a picture from the website (ours wasn’t a la mode):

I did mean lime juice. The 2 year old thought different.

This is quite embarrassing, but I am going to ‘push on’ anyway.

I never blogged about my Easter cooking.

*gasp*

I could have ignored that fact and gone on without coming forth with my shame, but I have pretty pictures to share (what? Yes the pics are of food–food is pretty!), so here I go…and besides, it’s still the Easter season!

Devin’s Delight

Mom and I wanted to bring something fruity and light and spring-y…and what better encompasses those attributes than one out of the veritable cornucopia of fruit molds? Hehe. We had never made a fruit mold/salad thing before…but we decided on this recipe. I was very happy with how this recipe turned out, and so (to my knowledge) was everyone else.

INGREDIENTS
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice
1 (6 ounce) package apricot or peach flavored gelatin mix
2 cups buttermilk
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS
Place the pineapple in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stir in the gelatin mix until completely dissolved. Remove to a bowl, and chill until partially set, about 1 hour. Stir in buttermilk, and chill again until thickened. Fold in whipped topping, and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours.

(I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, and molded it in a bundt cake pan.)

Why, you ask, is the name at the website ‘Buttermilk Salad’ and the name I use in this post ‘Devin’s Delight’? Well, those at the Easter celebration decided that ‘Buttermilk Salad’ wasn’t a fitting descriptive title and so they took it upon themselves to create a better one. After much conversation and laughter and silly name ideas (Fluffy Devin?! Cloud of Devin?!) they decided on ‘Devin’s Delight.’ Alright, could have been worse.

Baked Beans

These Baked Beans are straight from allrecipes.com…I didn’t make any major modifications, and they were awesome. Really. And I’m not a huge baked beans fan, so if I like them…they’ve got to be good.

INGREDIENTS
6 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can great Northern beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings, crumble and set aside in a large bowl. Cook the onion and garlic in the reserved drippings until onion is tender; drain excess grease and transfer to the bowl with the bacon.
To the bacon and onions add pinto beans, northern beans, baked beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans. Stir in ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and black pepper. Mix well and transfer to a 9×12 inch casserole dish.
Cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
(after the beans were finished baking, I moved them to a crock pot on warm.)

Banana Pudding

This Banana Pudding is yet again straight from allrecipes.com…good, homestyle cookin.’ The joke was that this recipe had EVERYthing in it ever used to make a ‘comfort food’ desert…whipped topping, sweetened condensed milk…anything with the word ‘cream’ in it…you get my meaning.

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 bananas, sliced
1/2 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in condensed milk, pudding mix, cold milk and vanilla until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping.
Line the bottom of a 9×13 inch dish with vanilla wafers. Arrange sliced bananas evenly over wafers. Spread with pudding mixture. Top with remaining whipped topping. Chill.

*Note* Do not store this dish on a slant. Ahem. Not that I would know from experience or anything.

Lemon Curd Tarts and Key Lime Curd Tarts

These babies were my pride and joy this Easter…the loving labor of my toiling hands….well, maybe I exaggerate. Still, I was very happy with how they turned out.

I blogged about Easter food preparations here and wrote about a recipe I might use for the tarts. I did end up using that recipe, and they came out great. One thing, I think the biggest change I made, was that I only cooked these cookies for about 5 minutes in mini-muffin tins.

I love the recipe that I use for citrus curd, I’ve used it multiple times now and every time it has worked wonderfully. The recipe is from Sherry Yard’s book The Secrets of Baking. Fabulous book, I reccomend you pick it up.

Master Lemon Curd

2/3 cup sugar
2 T finely chopped or grated lemon zest
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (any fresh citrus juice can be substituted for the lemon and lime juice used here)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1. Prepare an ice bath, using a large bowl to hold the ice. Fill a medium saucepan three-quarters full of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

2. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse until the sugar is yellow and very fragrant, about 1 minute. The friction of the machine heats up the zest, releasing its oils into the sugar.

3. Combine the lemon sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in a medium heat proof bowl and whisk together for 30 seconds, to distribute the sugar evenly, which prevents premature coagulation. Place the bowl over the simmering water and immediately begin whisking. Whisk continuously for 15 seconds, or until the sugar is dissolved. To see if the sugar has dissolved, place a finger in the mixture. If you feel the grains, continue to whisk.

4. Add the lemon and lime juices and cook, whisking continuously, for about 5 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl from time to time. INsert a thermometer and check the curd’s temperature. The curd is done when it has the consistency of sour cream and a temperature of 160 degrees F. Rinse and dry the food processor.

5. Transfer the curd to the food processor or a large bowl. Pulse while you add the butter, piece by piece, or whisk it in by hand. Once all of the butter has been added, pulse or whisk for 10 seconds, or until the texture is homogenous. Rinse and dry the heatproof bowl.

6. Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer back into the bowl and set it in the ice bath to cool. Cover with plastic film, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Stir the curd occaisonally until it has cooled completely. At this point, the curd can be used or refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Yay! Oh, that was fun…but now I’m craving, well, everything up *points* there. Sigh…well, for the days that you can’t make any of the above for lack of time or ingredients, here is a recipe that will be a ray of sunshine….

Microwave Lemon Curd

Yes, you read that aright. While the real lemon curd is still the best, this one still packs a wonderful lemon-y punch.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup fresh lemon juice
3 lemons, zested
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Tip
If you over cook the mixture a little, or forget to stir, you can pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the bits of cooked egg.

Now, back to the real world…i.e. Algebra.